What About the Jewish People in the Book of Hebrews?

Dr. Couch, I understand that some of the best Greek teachers along with yourself hold that the Jews in the book of Hebrews had not accepted Christ as their Savior. They were "hearers" but they had not believed in Him as their Lord as required for salvation. I have felt the same thing as I have read Hebrews. Is this correct?

ANSWER: Yes, you are right. The great Dr. Kenneth Wuest who taught at Moody, and who was one of the best Greek professors of the last century held to this position. As you know, I taught at Moody and was influenced by his spirituality and scholarship. He wrote:

"These Jews had allowed the Holy Spirit to carry them along to the place of repentance. Now … if they should refuse the faith by which they could lay hold of the High Priest as their Savior, and return to the abrogated sacrifices of the First Testament (the animal sacrifices), it would be impossible to bring them back to the act of repentance again. … They refused the light and turned back into the darkness of sin and continued unbelief, so these Hebrews were in danger of doing a like thing. These Jews were like the Hebrew spies at Kadesh-Barnea who saw the land and had the very fruit in their hands, and yet turned back (4:1-13). They were like many sinners who heard the message and then said "The world is too much with us," and then turned back into sin.

They were partakers of the Holy Spirit but this does not mean they were possessors! The Spirit had led them into the act of repentance. The next step would be that of faith. But here they were in danger of turning their backs upon the Spirit and returning again to the sacrifices. They had been led into repentance. Now should they fall away from their profession of faith in the Messiah and back to the sacrifices, it would be impossible to renew them to repentance (6:6-8). The apostle warned these unsaved Hebrews from making such a thing a reality.

Before I had read Wuest's comments I had already come to the position that these Jews were not saved but only professors who had not truly trusted in Christ as Savior! I am very surprised at believers who do not study carefully the Word of God! They are just copy-kats who simply quote what others have said.

Thanks for asking.
--Dr. Mal Couch (2/12)

Confidence

Dr. Couch, what is the apostle John telling us in 1 John 4:17 about having confidence? ANSWER: John writes: "Love is perfected with us, that we may have confidence in the day of judgment; because as He is, so also are we in this world" Our confidence replaces fear when we stand before the Lord, as mentioned in verse 18. "There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves punishment, and the one who fears is not perfected by love." Believers go before the Bema seat where our works are judged but not our eternal destiny. That issue is over as Paul says in Romans 8:1. "There is therefore now no condemnation, judgment (positional) for those who are in Christ Jesus." We now stand as positionally perfect in Christ though in our walk, in our experience, we still are living out our sins in this life. Our destiny is secure but our works are judged, and, we shall receive rewards for what we do in this life. The word "confidence" in Greek is "paresia" which means "to be fearless, to be cheerful, to have boldness and assurance." We can do this because all of our sins were taken care of at the cross. There is no judgment or an indictment against us because of the death of Christ in our behalf! Those who think they can lose their salvation remain in fear and have no confidence about their salvation. And, they do not know their Bible. They do not understand the difference between Positional Truth and Experiential Truth! They think that what they do determines their redemption. Rather, it is what Christ did for us that guarantees our salvation. There was nothing that we could do to please God; Christ had to do it all! Thanks for asking. Dr. Mal Couch (12/10)

Calvinism

Dr. Couch, it seems to me that the five points of Calvinism, particularly the belief in limited atonement, cannot be proven scripturally. What do you say? ANSWER:  You are absolutely correct. In the presentation of the five points by those who hold that view, the advocates have the least to say about limited atonement because they cannot prove this as scriptural. It is a long story as to why they even came up with that view, which I won't take the time here to go into.    The other four points are certainly defensible by the Word of God, but limited atonement just won't fly!    The Bible clearly teaches absolute salvation by predestination, and it teaches total depravity, and eternal security, but not the limited atonement view. Salvation is offered to all, but because of depravity, none will by themselves come to Christ. Thus, sovereign election kicks in and those to be saved are brought to Him. There are so many verses that make this clear I don't have space here to present all of them. Just one: "As many as had been appointed to eternal life believed" (Acts 13:48b). "Appointed" is the Greek word "tasso" as a Perfect Passive Participle. "The ones who have been brought to this point of an appointment, a position," they believed.    Here are some verses that I think go against "limited atonement":   Christ "is the propitiation for our sins; and not for ours only, but for the whole world" (1 John 2:2).    "Who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth" (1 Tim. 2:4).    "Who gave Himself a ransom for all" (1 Tim. 2:6).    "But when the kindness of God our Savior and His love for mankind appeared" (Titus 3:4).    "Not wishing for any to perish but for all to come to repentance" (2 Pet. 3:9).    Even the false prophets "denying the Master who bought them" (2 Pet. 2:1).    "The grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation to all men" (Titus 2:11).    Remember, no one can come to Christ without His drawing him. "There is none who seeks after God" within himself (Rom. 3:11)! Salvation is a sovereign work of God. Though the door is open for all, none will come by themselves! Thus no one can say, "You kept me from coming to You!"    Thanks for asking.    Dr. Mal Couch (Mar., 10)

Losing Salvation

Dr. Couch, some use Luke 8:13 to try to prove that one can lose their salvation after once believing. What do you say? And would this not contradict Hebrews 3:14? ANSWER:  The passage is not really about those who today believe in Christ, in the usual reference to the body of Christ, though there are some parallels that are possible. Christ is giving parables about the Jews who are considering "the Kingdom of God," which is about the coming of the millennial reign of Christ (v. 10). Satan did indeed work on the believing Jews as to whether Christ was coming to establish His Davidic reign at that time. The Jews, many of them, went back and forth in accepting and/or rejecting Him, and then in denying Him as the promised Messiah.    In verse 13 the parable speaks about the seed falling on rocky ground, and "they believe for a while, and in time of temptation [they] fall away." The expression "fall away" is our word "to apostatize" and that is always about those who have an appearance of faith but then reject the truth. It is in the Present Tense in Greek. They were "continually falling away" from the facts about the Kingdom of God. They were doing this because of the Satanic temptation. And the word implies that when things got tough they gave up what they seemed to be holding on to. According to the Greek Lexicon, the word is used to describe temptation brought on by "outward [or external] circumstances." Their belief was a form of temporary acceptance but not an internal embracing of the fact that Christ was the son of David and the promised King! Hebrews 3:12-14 does fit to some degree. It speaks about the "falling away" of the Jews (v. 12) and about the "hardening of the deceitfulness of sin" (v. 13). It ends by saying that the Jews would become partakers of Christ "if they held fast the beginning of their assurance firm until the end" (v. 14). And that is a perfect description of the Jews who heard about Christ's death, and the fact of who He was, and yet did not go all the way to embrace Him as their Savior and Lord who was promised in the OT.    Thanks for asking. And I hope this helps.    Dr. Mal Couch (Mar., 10)

Can Christians Lose Their Salvation?

Dr. Couch, 1 John 3:7, 8, and 9 sounds like a Christian can lose his salvation. I believe in eternal security but what about these verses? How do you answer? ANSWER:  The verses read: "The one who 'practices' righteousness is righteous, just as [Christ] is righteous" (v. 7), and, "The one who 'practices' sin is of the devil" (v. 8), and finally, "No one who is born of God 'practices' sin" (v. 9).    The key is the grammatical construction of the Greek word "practice" which is "poieo." The word means "to do, practice, work." In verses 7, 8 "poieo" is in the Present Participle form, and in verse 9, it is simply a Present Indicative. The idea is that the one who is continually, daily, going about sinning, and even bragging or flaunting his sin, doing it with boldness every day, is not born again. Nor has he ever been! With the Present Participle, the verb is united with the noun, meaning "The one who is going about each day boldly practicing (maybe a specific sin) and continually enjoying doing so, this one is not born again."    For an example, let's take the sin of homosexuality. This person is saying by his actions, attitudes, and proclamation, "I'm going to continue to practice daily my sin, I am not going to repent, nor am I ashamed, and I am not planning to drop that sin or to give it to Christ for forgiveness!" "It is mine and I am proud of it and have no plans to walk away from it."    I think it works this way: A gross sinner comes to Christ and says 'I accept Him as my Savior,' except in reference to the sin that I am continually practicing, that I love, and plan to keep! I give Him all my sins except this one that I relish and I am not repentant of it. So, Christ died for my sins except this one that I plan to keep and to practice daily!"    In my opinion that is what John the apostle has in mind. Most people understand when they come to the Lord as their Savior that they are confessing all their sins. That is the essence of being born again. Being born again implies that Christ died for all of our sins, not just a few of them! We cannot be selective, otherwise, we are playing games with Christ's sacrifice on the cross!    A person who is born again cannot lose his salvation. He is in heaven already in God's mind. On this see Romans 8:29-30, Ephesians 1:3-14. and 2:6. This last verse reads: "[God has] raised us with Him, and seated us with Him in THE HEAVENLIES in Christ Jesus." We are already in heaven and we cannot be jerked out of glory. We are there forever!    Thanks for asking.    Dr. Mal Couch (Mar., 10)

Jews Losing Their Salvation on the Day of Atonement

Dr. Couch, I have heard some say if the Jews do not pray for twenty-four hours on the Day of Atonement (Leviticus 23:26-32) they may lose their salvation. What do you say? ANSWER:  That is an extreme view and one that is out of order even in the OT. The way of salvation for the Jews is given in Genesis 15:6: "The [Abraham] believed in the Lord and He reckoned it to him as righteousness." The Bible is written from a common sense viewpoint. By believing all that the Lord had said to Abraham constituted salvation for him. That belief was "accounted, reckoned, applied" to him for righteousness. In other words, God saw him as Positionally righteousness. This is what happens to us with God seeing us as righteous as Himself, and as righteous as His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. "Common sense" is part of good hermeneutics and interpretation. The Bible is not wild and woolly in its approach to reality!    In Leviticus 23:27 this Day is called "the Day of atonement," or (Capher), the Day of Covering. The sins of the Jews were covered for another year. Christ does not atone for us. And where the KJV uses the word "atonement" it is wrong, and that is why I don't use that "old" version. Christ's death was a one-for-all act whereby God is finished with our sins. We read in Hebrews 9:12: "He entered the holy place once for all, having obtained ETERNAL REDEMPTION." And, Christ "is a mediator of a new covenant, ... by which we receive the promise of the ETERNAL INHERITANCE" (v. 15).    Back to the issue of the Jews and the OT: In Leviticus 23 the Jews were to humble themselves and do no work or they would be cut off from their people. This is not an issue of loss of salvation but they could die physically, for God "will destroy them from among [their] people" (v. 30).    Thanks for asking.    Dr. Mal Couch (Mar., 10)

Parable on the Branches Abiding in Christ

Dr. Couch, is John 15:1-9 about loss of salvation? It's the parable about the branches abiding in Christ. What do you say? ANSWER:  First of all, the issue here is about fruit bearing not about one's Position in salvation. Christ prunes the branches of the vine in order to make them bear more fruit. To prune is painful to the branch. But it brings forth more fruit in the process.    Notice that the individual connected with Christ, the vine, is "already clean because of the word which I have spoken to you" (v. 3). That is a Positional statement about salvation. So the issue here is fruit bearing, or a relationship that produces fruit. Salvation is not the point. That is a settled issue.    The main idea is "abiding" or to put it in the vernacular, about "sticking" with Christ, "staying with Him in fellowship, which is so necessary for the daily Christian walk. Verse 5 makes the main point, "apart from Me you can do nothing." Again, this is not a salvation issue but a fruit production issue, the "doing something for the cause of Christ."    Some think the "casting away into the fire, and they are burned" is alluding to the loss of salvation and the fires of eternal, spiritual judgment (v. 6). But who is doing the "casting away"? It is the "they." Or, men who are doing the judging, not God! "They gather them" is a Present Active Indicative, Third Person Plural, meaning "they," or "men" gather the branches and cast them into the fire. The "Men" or probably even the lost, who are doing the judging against Christians, that is those believers who are hypocrites because the world does not see any good coming out of these believers in their walk. The Christians are walking like the world, like the lost! And, there is no fruit bearing.    The issue of fruit bearing also has to do with glorifying the Father, and by this, we prove that we are Christ's disciples, and that has to do with our following and walking with Him, not an issue about our salvation (v. 8). Finally, "fellowship love" is the issue as stated in verse 9. We are to be abiding, "sticking" with Christ in His relationship love, as stated in this verse. Most of the time in this passage when Christ says "abide" or "stay with" Me, He uses the Present Tense in Greek. "Be daily and continually staying with Me" in fellowship ..." How we are walking is what this passage is all about, not about our Position in our salvation.    Thanks for asking. I hope this helps.    Dr. Mal Couch (Dec., 09)

Struggling with Eternal Security

Dr. Couch, I believe in eternal security but I have problems with Matthew 5:22 where Jesus said "... and whosoever shall say, You fool, shall be in danger of hell fire." How do you answer? – from England ANSWER:  I really appreciate your questions, but you must interpret the Bible by context not by the ping pong method, where you bounce all over the place and automatically apply verses to the church. This is the Sermon on the Mount where Christ is speaking specifically to the Jews and the problems they had in the way they mistreated others.    Remember, we must interpret the Bible by context and by the Greek text, not by the English. "Hell" is a bad translation that is why Bible teachers need to take Greek in order to understand all that is happening in Scripture. I have had more Greek than any Bible teacher you'll talk with. I translate almost everyday. In this passage "hell" is Geenna or Gehenna, referring to the burning garbage dump outside of the city of Jerusalem that became a symbol of judgment. Yes, often it was symbolic of hell's fires but it can, in context, often just be referring to a judgment.    Christ is addressing how the Jews mistreated each other with their mouth—with their criticisms. Note the progression in verse 22. If one is angry with his brother he should be brought before the synagogue court and be judged. If one goes further and calls his brother Raca (or numb skull, stupid) he is to be brought before the supreme court or the Sanhedrin and be judged. But if one says to his brother that he is a fool, he receives the harshest judgment and was to be cast into Gehenna, the burning garbage dump! Now can you imagine the fear this brought to the hearts of the Jews? In their relationships with others they were terribly critical, hurt others with the mouth, and continued to destroy the relationships by harsh words! The Jews paid no attention to this mistreatment. Christ brought it to their attention. The point is not about a doctrinal or theological judgment but about the issue of mistreatment of others.    This was meant to awaken the Jews in the harshness of their human relationships.    Thanks for asking, and, I hope this helps.    Dr. Mal Couch (Dec., 09)